The following letter in the Wanganui Chronicle sums up the deep sense of fractured nationhood felt by many throughout the country, especially today.

Once upon a time we were all Kiwis and used to celebrate New Zealand Day together. Now we are divided into iwi, pakeha and New Zealanders.

There are New Zealanders by birth and New Zealanders by choice. Kiwis are those who identify as New Zealanders. If New Zealanders identify first and foremost as iwi they are New Zealanders but they are not Kiwis. If New Zealanders identify first and foremost as pakeha, a name given them by iwi, they are New Zealanders but they are not Kiwis.

A NATIONAL DAY Waitangi Day is a sad day, as it reminds us that the tribes/iwi of New Zealand are dead in the water, locked into a feuding dog-eat-dog past. It's time we stopped the intertribal warfare (that includes Ngati Pakeha as well as all the smaller iwi) before we end up like Afghanistan or tribal parts of Africa and the Middle East.The name Wanganui has a life of its own, independent of any language. It's a west coast New Zealand city populated by people from all over the world. Wanganui is a "Kiwi" word and one all the peoples of Wanganui, New Zealand and the world can be proud of. It has lost any links it had to the Polynesian languages.One suspects Maori has done the same, shown by the need to establish a Maori Language Commission, one of whose roles is to invent "new" Maori words. To add insult to injury, we pay millions of dollars a year to invent and support the Maori language — Maori Language Commission/ Te Taura Whiri i to Reo Maori receives $3.204 million in baseline funding annually when fewer than 25 per cent of Maori homes have access to a Maori speaker (http://www.tetaurawhiri.govt.nz/englishpub_e/bim.pdfp28). Money better spent on supporting/ intervening with poor families and those that maim and injure their own offspring of whatever race but Kiwis all).Think how many jobs for Kiwis could be created instead of new words almost nobody uses. New Zealand itself is an anglicised Dutch name for a place discovered by Polynesians (and others) and colonised by the British.The Treaty of 1840 was, among other things, an attempt by the British to stop the tribes/iwi killing each other (read a history of the 1820-30 musket wars). Any problems with the Treaty should be taken up by the people of New Zealand with the Queen and people of Britain, as we are an independent nation (Statute of Westminster adopted by the people of New Zealand on September 25, 1947). If we want a national day to celebrate our birth as a nation, this is the day we should celebrate.T O'CWanganui

Kiwis are not iwis. Kiwis are not pakeha. Kiws are people who are proud to call themselves New Zealanders. Kiwis demand their own national day called New Zealand Day. Like this blog if you agree. Share this blog with like-minded Kiwis. Let’s stop being saddened by Waitangi Day. Let’s start celebrating New Zealand Day.